Le Mans, France – This year's 24 Hours of Le Mans will bring together alliance partners Nissan, Renault and INFINITI in a unique programme which will not only assist cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy's Le Mans debut, but will further boost a young motorsport engineer's career. University of Nottingham student Daniel Sanham has been "living the dream" as the 2015 INFINITI Engineering Academy winner for Europe.
He has already completed 5 months at INFINITI Cranfield working on electrical development of the new Q30 road car and is now working in the Electronics Department at the Renault Sport Formula One™ Team.
This week he will swap his F1 duties where he has been concentrating on electrical components required to complete a 305km Grand Prix race distance to the world's most prestigious 24-hour endurance race.
Sanham will work with Algarve Pro Racing's LM P2 entry at Le Mans which includes Hoy and Renault-Nissan Alliance athlete, Andrea Pizzitola.
"I am beyond excited to be given the opportunity to support the team at the Le Mans 24hrs," said Daniel Sanham, INFINITI Placement Design Engineer.
"The INFINITI Engineering Academy has opened the door to so many things, not to mention working at INFINITI's Technical Center for Europe and the Renault Sport Formula One™ Team. This week will bring together all of those experiences and further punctuates the opportunities available to an academy engineer."
Launched in 2014, the INFINITI Engineering Academy has hosted more than 60 finalists worldwide and launched the career of eight winners from five different countries.
"Daniel Sanham has performed with excellence so far during his secondment with the Renault Sport Formula One™ Team," said Bob Bell, Chief Technical Officer, Renault Sport Formula One™ Team. "We are only too happy to see that INFINITI and the wider Renault-Nissan Alliance family have facilitated this exciting Le Mans 24hrs experience."
Not only will Sanham learn about the technical challenges of Le Mans through Sir Chris Hoy's efforts, he will also spend time with Nissan engineering stalwart Ricardo Divilla who will be on site at the race with Greaves Motorsport.
Nissan dominates the grid at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans with NISMO-power filling 35 per cent of the entire grid.
"The Le Mans 24hrs endurance race is one of the most historic and challenging motorsport events in the world," Tommaso Volpe, Global Director, INFINITI Motorsport.
"We are delighted to supply one of the 2015 INFINITI Engineering Academy engineers to the Algarve Pro Racing Team, bringing valuable expertise from his placement across automotive and motorsport engineering. We wish Daniel and the team the very best of luck in this Renault-Nissan Alliance initiative."
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